Shoe-tip gage.



C. B. MANSBACH.

SHOE TIP GAGE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 20. 1915.

Patented Apr. 25, 1916.

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CONRAD B. MANSBAGI-I, OF BROCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO FRANK L. PRICE, OF BROCK'ION, MASSACHUSETTS.

SHOE-TI? GAGE.

insonne.

Application led 'May 20, 1915.

To all whom z' may concern.'

Be it known that I, CONRAD B. MANsnAoH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Brockton, in the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shoe- 'Iip Gages, of which the following is a specification.

rI`his invention has for its object to p rovide a gage whereby a laster, after lasting the upper of one of the shoes of a pair, may accurately measure the median length of the toe cap with which the upper is. provided. By median length I mean the distance between the extreme forward portion of the toe cap at the center of the bulge of the toe, and the central portion of the exposed edge of the cap extending across the vamp.

The gage of my invention enables the laster to utilize the median length determination or measurement o-f one lasted upper to give the toe cap of the companion upper, subsequently lasted, exactly the same median length, a result much desired by shoe manufacturers. The median length of the toe cap is dependent to a considerable extent on the judgment of the laster, so that a gage adapted to accurately measure said length in a lasted upper, and to enable the laster to ac curately reproduce the same in the companion upper, is a valuable part of the equipment of a shoe factory.

rIhe invention is embodied in the improved gage which I will now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification: Figure 1 represents a side view of a gage embodying my invention; Fig. 2 represents an edge View of the gage and a plan view of a portion of a lasted upper and toe cap to which the gage is applied; Fig. 3 represents a side View showing the gage applied to the lasted upper and toe cap.

rIhe same reference characters indicate the same or similar parts in all the views.

'Ihe body of my improved gage is composed of an outer arm 12 and an inner arm 13 preferably formed in one piece from aluminum or other suitable material. The outer arm 12 is formed to bear on the extreme forward or bulging portion of a lasted toe cap 14 at the median line of the cap. The inner arm is formed to overhang the toe cap and a portion of the lasted vamp Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 25, 1916.

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15, and is provided with suitable graduations 16 which may be inscribed as shown to indicate the seriality of the scale marks and their relative distances from the bearing edge of the outer arm.

The forward portion of the upper surface of a lasted toe cap usually projects farther above the inner sole than the rear portion, which terminates in the exposed edge 14a. In other words, the forward portion of the toe cap usually bulges upwardly more than the edge 14a. This dierence in height is greater in some shoes than in others, and in the great majority of shoes the contour of the toe cap` along its median line is such that it is not possible to locate the inner edge of the arm 13 in contact with the median portion of the cap, said inner edge being separated from the cap, as indicated by Fig. 3, to such an extent that the scale marks on the arm 13 cannot accurately register the median length of the cap. I have therefore provided the arm 13 with an automatically adjustable scale or scale-extension, adapted to bridge the space between the inner edge of the arm and the median line of the toe cap, and thus virtually extend the scale marks to said median line. In the embodiment of the invention here illustrated said adjustable scale is composed of a series of slender rods or fingers 1S movable freely endwise, but not sidewise, in orifices formed for their reception in the arm 13, said lingers being uniformly spaced apart and in alinement with a suitable number of the scale marks 16. The fingers are normally held by gravity projected below the arm when the device is held with the fingers extending vertically. 'Ihe lower ends of the fingers 18 are preferably provided with pointed heads 1821 adapted to bear on the toe cap and upper, and at their upper ends with shoulders 18", said heads and shoulders preventing the withdrawal of the fingers in either direction from the arm.

After the upper of one shoe of a pair has been lasted, and before the outer sole is applied, the laster places the gage on the toe cap as indicated by Figs. 2 and 3, and notes the median length of the toe cap as registered by one or more of the fingers 18. In lasting the upper of the companion shoe, the laster, bearing in mind the measurement thus effected, takes care that in pulling over the upper and toe cap, the cap is given the I same median length as the cap previously lasted.

lIt is obvious that the members of the auv tomatically adjustable scale may be otherwise formed and engaged with the arm 13, and that the form of the two-armed body may be variously modified without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having described my invention, I claim: A shoe tip gage comprising atWo-armed body having an outer arm formed to bear on the extreme forward portion of a lasted iCONRAD B.' MANSBACH.

. opies of this patent may be obtained for ive cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. C. 

